GUIDEBOOK : Chilling Out in Canada

Getting there: From Los Angeles, connections to Iqaluit may require an overnight stay in either Ottawa or Montreal. First Air (613-839-1247) charges about $655 round trip, with 21-day advance purchase, to fly from Ottawa to Iqaluit. Canadian Airlines International (800-426-7000) flies between Montreal and Iqaluit. Round-trip air fare is about $800, with restrictions.

Getting around: For many American travelers, anywhere in the Canadian High Arctic has long been regarded as beyond reach because of the vast distances that have to be covered by air and because of expectations of prohibitive costs. However, Canadian North (403-421-1414), a subsidiary of Canadian Airlines, has expanded the frequency of its jetliner flights in the region and has lowered the air fares to the point where it is more affordable. For example, round-trip service from Iqaluit to Resolute Bay is $532, with 21-day advance and Saturday night stay-over.

Package adventure tours in the High Arctic range from $2,000 to $4,000, depending on their reach, and the average Arctic tourist spends about $2,500 for a weeklong visit, said Cecil Clark, general manager of the Baffin region tourism department in Iqaluit.

For those adventurists who want to set foot on the North Pole, Bezal Jesudason, an expedition outfitter in Resolute Bay (High Arctic International Explorer’s Services, Box 200, Resolute Bay, Northwest Territories X0A 0V0, 819-252-3875), offers an eight-day fly-in package during the month of April that includes the geographic North Pole (90 degrees North latitude) and the North Magnetic Pole (78 degrees North latitude), as well as Grise Fiord, Greenland and other Arctic highlights.

The trip, which begins in Resolute Bay, costs about $8,500 per person, including the loan of Arctic clothing. The cost is relatively steep because the workhorse bush plane most commonly used in the Arctic, the Twin Otter, cannot make it to the North Pole without being refueled, meaning that another aircraft carrying drums of fuel must meet it along the route.

Where to stay: Most hotels are small (20-30 beds) and pretty basic. And because most supplies have to be flown into the Arctic archipelago’s remote settlements, they are also relatively expensive. Rooms typically cost $150 per person without meals in larger communities such as Iqaluit, on the southern end of Baffin Island, and about the same for bed and three meals in comfortable-but-no-frills lodges in more isolated communities such as Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay, 900 miles north of Grise Fiord.

For more information: Contact the Baffin Tourism Assn., P.O. Box 1450, Iqaluit, Northwest Territories X0A 0H0, Canada, (819) 979-6551.